M50 Toll Solicitors letter

liamtimdusty

Hi guys,

Before I start I know I should have just paid at the time (I don't need you all telling me this)

So, drove to Dublin for a Funeral, home the same day, forgot to pay the m50 toll that evening.
3 months later I get a letter from Eflow saying I have an outstanding payment and they will be getting solicitors involved. (No previous letter of reminder)

They now want €100 for that journey up and down.

I've read that they will reduce the fee a bit, but was wondering does anyone have any experience of how much it may come down to?

Responses appreciated!

colm_mcm

The first time they contacted you was after 3 months? Normally they get onto you pretty quickly.

liamtimdusty

colm_mcm wrote: »

The first time they contacted you was after 3 months? Normally they get onto you pretty quickly.

First contact I got was saying there will be solicitors involved if I don't pay the fine. I rang them and they said they send out a letter after 3 days which I never received.

shietpilot

Do you have an eflow account on another car? I received a penalty (double the fee) for not paying an M50 toll and transferred my eflow account to the car with the penalty and the toll fee appeared on the account without the penalty charge. I switched back to my normal car and everything is fine :P

liamtimdusty

shietpilot wrote: »

Do you have an eflow account on another car? I received a penalty (double the fee) for not paying an M50 toll and transferred my eflow account to the car with the penalty and the toll fee appeared on the account without the penalty charge. I switched back to my normal car and everything is fine :P

I do actually, how long ago did you do this?
So, log in to my account, add the car with the fine on it and the penalty doesn't transfer?

biko

Ring eflow and see what they say. They are usually helpful.

shietpilot

liamtimdusty wrote: »

I do actually, how long ago did you do this?
So, log in to my account, add the car with the fine on it and the penalty doesn't transfer?

Yeah, just change the car that's on the account now to the one with the penalty then log out, log back in and see if it appears in the transactions. If it does, you're grand.

I did this about a month ago :rolleyes: Basically video/tag accounts don't have to pay by next day so they are not liable to the time limit because the toll fees are taken once a month.

all the bais

biko wrote: »

Ring eflow and see what they say. They are usually helpful.

They deffo are helpful.
My experience with the M50 toll was fun.

When I first moved to Dublin, I had to travel on the M50 to work. I was still driving my UK registered car. I was aware of the M50 toll and naively thought - sure they won't have the ability to charge a foreign registered car. Well how wrong was I.

Next visit to my parents house, I was met at the door with a stack of penalty letters from eflow. Totalling over €600. Disgusted with myself.

The following Monday I rang Eflow to pay €600+. The guy I was chatting to was very friendly, and when asked for bank details (I was allowed to set up a DD) I told him I haven't opened a bank a/c in the Republic yet. He was frustrated at this stage, then told me he waived the €600 and told me to make sure to pay it in future.

Very lucky indeed.

TheDoc

liamtimdusty wrote: »

First contact I got was saying there will be solicitors involved if I don't pay the fine. I rang them and they said they send out a letter after 3 days which I never received.

So E-Flow are pretty prompt with their notice letters, like, really prompt. That you didn't get the letter doesn't actually absolve you from responsibility unfortunately. E-flow don't manage An Post. They also send numerous notices and warnings before it ever gets to solicitor level.

So either you have a terrible postman in which case Contact your local Depot and advise you didn't receive critical post that has led to legal action being taken against you.

Or they were posting to the wrong address. Again, this is actually your problem. The address mailed to is whats registered against the car in the Motox Tax database, owners responsibility to keep this maintained and accurate.

Or you did get them and were ignoring them. Well that explains itself.

I had a similar issue a few years ago. I went through a toll and forgot to pay, and moved house. I pay my tax on a six month cycle, so would have been changing the address at the next renewal date. Eventually when I came to arranging my new address, I eventually got correspondence. and it was at solictor letter level.

Rang them up, explained the situation and they were extremely understanding and accommodating. I ended up paying the original price, and like a €12 penalty.

Have you even contacted them at all? They have write off procedures, were basically you get a chance to write off a large penalty(really just a once off or once per term) but I'd advise contacting them, explaining the situation and the likelyhood is they will write off some of the penalty.

liamtimdusty

TheDoc wrote: »

So E-Flow are pretty prompt with their notice letters, like, really prompt. That you didn't get the letter doesn't actually absolve you from responsibility unfortunately. E-flow don't manage An Post. They also send numerous notices and warnings before it ever gets to solicitor level.

So either you have a terrible postman in which case Contact your local Depot and advise you didn't receive critical post that has led to legal action being taken against you.

Or they were posting to the wrong address. Again, this is actually your problem. The address mailed to is whats registered against the car in the Motox Tax database, owners responsibility to keep this maintained and accurate.

Or you did get them and were ignoring them. Well that explains itself.

I had a similar issue a few years ago. I went through a toll and forgot to pay, and moved house. I pay my tax on a six month cycle, so would have been changing the address at the next renewal date. Eventually when I came to arranging my new address, I eventually got correspondence. and it was at solictor letter level.

Rang them up, explained the situation and they were extremely understanding and accommodating. I ended up paying the original price, and like a €12 penalty.

Have you even contacted them at all? They have write off procedures, were basically you get a chance to write off a large penalty(really just a once off or once per term) but I'd advise contacting them, explaining the situation and the likelyhood is they will write off some of the penalty.

None of the above is true in my case. (If it was I wouldn't be writing on here about my experience)

Have previously forgot to pay, got a letter 3 days later and paid the extra fee of €3 or whatever, that doesn't bother me - it's my fault.

The reason I wrote this is because I thought it was strange that I got no previous letters! Again, I know they don't even have to send a letter but it was just strange.

Toots

I'd ring them, explain that you were at a funeral and due to the stressful nature of the day you didn't remember to pay the toll, and hadn't gotten any reminders until this solicitors letter showed up. Ask can they do anything for you. The worst they can say is no.

JinkyJackson

Not advising you to break the law, but forget it. It'll cost them a few grand to retrieve a 5r. Won't happen. I got the solicitor letter myself, ignored it and never heard anymore. It won't affect your credit rating either

R.O.R

JinkyJackson wrote: »

Not advising you to break the law, but forget it. It'll cost them a few grand to retrieve a 5r. Won't happen. I got the solicitor letter myself, ignored it and never heard anymore. It won't affect your credit rating either

This is very bad advice.

shietpilot

OSI wrote: »

They used to be willing to drop the fines if you created an account with them and transferred the toll to the account. So in the end you'd pay €2.10 via direct debit instead of €140+. Not sure if they still do but worth a try.


I would have a word with your postman though, there should be 3 letters before it get's to solicitors letter stage.

I did it a month ago. You don't need to call them, just transfer the reg to an existing account and then transfer it back out 10 minutes later.

JinkyJackson

R.O.R wrote:

This is very bad advice.

Maybe for you. I'm just saying there's no need to panic over a solicitors letter. Nothing will happen if you don't pay.

savagethegoat

why don't you ring them and say you forgot you didn't have this car on your account , tell them your account details and hopefully they'd sort it for you.

Allinall

JinkyJackson wrote: »

Maybe for you. I'm just saying there's no need to panic over a solicitors letter. Nothing will happen if you don't pay.

https://mobile.twitter.com/eflow_freeflow/status/677423959642607616

JinkyJackson

OP wasn't doing it on a regular basis so that's completely irrelevant

bear1

JinkyJackson wrote: »

Not advising you to break the law, but forget it. It'll cost them a few grand to retrieve a 5r. Won't happen. I got the solicitor letter myself, ignored it and never heard anymore. It won't affect your credit rating either

You just advised the OP to break the law.

savagethegoat

how is ignoring a letter breaking the Law?

irish bloke

It's kinda like downloading a music album or film once a year without paying, the authorities are not interested in going after you.

Serial offenders on the other hand are a different matter, as outlined in the irishtimes report.

I clocked up 4 of these over a weekend in 2011 without even known. Not in the big smoke much;)
Anyhow I got 4 solicitors letters totalling over €600 and didn't pay them as they were going to an address I was not living at anymore.
Never heard from them again after I was given the letters.

liamtimdusty

Rang EFlow -

Explained my situation - Fine instantly reduced to €46
After another bit of discussing (telling them I had another active account etc) they reduced again to €24.

Could have probably went further but fair is fair I guess.

smash

Have a look in to their 'solicitors' and you might find that they're actually not a law firm, but a debt collection agency who use the word 'solicitor' in their trading name... Then tell them to fcuk off!

hullaballoo

I forgot to pay an M50 toll last Sunday week ago. I rang them on Monday of this week and they said because the letter with the increased €6.10 toll hadn't been sent yet, they could cancel it and I just had to pay the original €3.10.

As for ignoring solicitors letters, don't do that. Debt collectors, sure, bin them but solicitors, no, that's when it's time to deal with the issue.

R.O.R

smash wrote: »

Have a look in to their 'solicitors' and you might find that they're actually not a law firm, but a debt collection agency who use the word 'solicitor' in their trading name... Then tell them to fcuk off!

The solicitor they use are Pierse Fitzgibbon in Listowel, who are Solicitors, so I wouldn't be ignoring anything from them.

smash

R.O.R wrote: »

The solicitor they use are Pierse Fitzgibbon in Listowel, who are Solicitors, so I wouldn't be ignoring anything from them.

I was thinking it might have been Belgard, who are just a debt collection agency.

JinkyJackson

R.O.R wrote:

The solicitor they use are Pierse Fitzgibbon in Listowel, who are Solicitors, so I wouldn't be ignoring anything from them.

I did, and a couple of other posters did, nothing happend.. You seriously think they'd drag you to court for 6 quid? Obviously different story if your doing it regularly